Made in North America

Collaboration in North America

?

This fall, the North Capital Forum in Mexico City brought together thought leaders with an aligned mission – to communicate the “tremendous opportunity and urgent need to consolidate North America as the most competitive region of the world”. ?Emilio Cadena, Chairman of the U.S.-Mexico Foundation, helped put together an event focused on highlighting North America’s potential.

?

Cadena argues that the catalyst for regional competitiveness is the self-determination to make the highest quality of goods and services that the people of North America deserve. The idea is not to win an adversarial race against other regional economies, but to constantly drive our own quality expectations through the roof and raise the bar on what ‘Made in North America’ can signify.

?

Collaboration is what makes the region strong. The United States, Canada and Mexico share a population of 500 million people, a GDP of nearly $30 trillion dollars, and each alone are important global economies. 1 of every 17 U.S. jobs is supported by trade with Canada and Mexico. These jobs are commonly associated with manufacturing, but in reality the vast majority are in the service sectors, including everything from finance to healthcare and retail. When competitively priced goods are brought into the marketplace, the buying power for local consumers increases.

?

North American Intermediate Trade

?

The United States and Mexico are strong partners in manufacturing, not adversaries. Their interwoven supply chains have been developed and optimized by combining the abundance of Mexican labor and U.S. technology. The availability of cost-effective input allows U.S. companies to stay competitive in the global market. Half of the trade within North America occurs in “intermediate goods” – materials or components destined for finished product. The three countries literally build things together.

?

"The North American Way is not something that great out of government, but from collaboration between peoples building things together." - Emilio Cadena

?

This regional system of manufacturing production leverages the two countries’ individual comparative advantages to compete as a region on the global stage. Productivity improvements have been driven by advanced technology in manufacturing, parallel to a structural shift toward higher-skilled service jobs in the U.S. In fact, a study showed that many manufacturing shifts to Mexico actually created job growth in the U.S. through corporate R&D spending.

The United States and Mexico recently reaffirmed their cooperation and commitment to regional growth, integration and longstanding strategic partnership as allies.

?

?

Allyshoring in North America

?

Nearshoring in North America can build resiliency into supply chains, increase protections to intellectual property under the USMCA, and leverage cultural impacts to productivity, among others. And the concept of ally-shoring aligns the nearshoring trend with the growing desire to do business with like-minded democratic partners.

?

Allyshoring is the sourcing of goods and services with countries that have a commitment to an open, rules-based international order. Since 1994, the integration of North American manufacturing has improved workers’ conditions and increased profits more than other sectors.

Source

Today, U.S. companies see Mexican or Canadian manufacturing plants united in purpose, goals and values. For Emilio Cadena, the “respect for each countries’ comparative advantages is at the heart of the North American Way”. Allyshoring leverages power of democracies united to uphold the rules of a global game and make goods and services proudly ‘Made in North America′, to collaborate on a global stage and position the free world to succeed in an era of strategic competition.

?

Continue reading the entire editorial at Mexico Today.